SPOKANE, WASHINGTON--One year and one day after Spokane Police
officers fatally restrained Otto Zehm, city officials announced that police and
emergency personnel would now be required to undergo training to better
understand and respond to people who experience a condition known as "excited
delirium", which is characterized by agitation, excitability, confusion, and
paranoia.

At a Monday press conference, Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick, Mayor
Dennis Hession and Fire Chief Bobby Williams said police officers,
firefighters, paramedics, dispatchers and ambulance drivers would start the
training this Friday. Some Spokane County Sheriff's deputies would also sit in
on the training.

While the mental health community does not officially recognize the term
"excited delirium", Spokane County Medical Examiner Sally Aiken determined that
Zehm died on March 20, 2006 from a heart attack "while restrained in a prone
position for excited delirium" two days earlier.

Following up on a 9-1-1 report of a man acting "in a bizarre manner" at
a bank ATM, police followed Zehm, 36, into a Spokane convenience. Video from
security videos showed one officer confronting Zehm, who had schizophrenia,
striking him with a nightstick and knocking him to the floor. Other officers
joined in, restraining Zehm, handcuffing and hogtying him, and shocking him
repeatedly with a Taser stun gun.

At some point, officers placed a clear plastic mask with a nickel-sized
hole over Zehm's face to prevent him from spitting. After Zehm was restrained
on his stomach for about 15 minutes, officers discovered that he had stopped
breathing.

During the press conference, Chief Kirkpatrick said that the
department's policies have been changed to limit the use of Tasers and to use
cloth hoods instead of plastic masks to prevent suspects from spitting on
officers.

"Hopefully, better training will prevent future Otto Zehm cases," said
Breean Beggs, an attorney with the Spokane Center for Justice who is
representing the Zehm family. "I applaud them asking, 'What can we do better in
the future?' That is good news for everyone."